Maaki Yamazaki no longer a secret weapon for UH baseball

Three years ago Maaki Yamazaki walked into UH baseball head coach Mike Trapasso's office asking to play ball for the Rainbow Warriors and now is a returning All Big West selection.

Tuesday, January 29th 2019, 7:48 PM HST

Three years ago Maaki Yamazaki walked into UH baseball head coach Mike Trapasso's office asking to play ball for the Rainbow Warriors. Little did he know Yamazaki would become a once in a career type surprise after earning All Big West honors in 2018 while leading the team in batting average, hits, runs, and on base percentage form his short stop position.

"Used to say that never happens to us. A guy just walks in to your office one day out of the blue, ends up being a first team all conference player. Now it has happened to us, 3 years ago. I can wait another 15 years before that happens again but hopefully it will happen tomorrow," Mike Trapasso said.

"This is amazing, I didn't have anywhere to play if I couldn't play for Hawaii. Until I finished my season I was too focused on my baseball and didn't think about myself but when I realized I got first team I was really happy. I wasn't expecting that so great pleasure to have. I would love to play baseball after this, anywhere I can play," Maaka Yamazaki said.

"We will take what he gave us last year because he was so good. Obviously he is not a secret anymore, he is a tremendous bad ball hitter. He is hard to get out and he has been a great kid for us. Great addition, great teammate, that is where it all starts with the type of person he is," Trapasso said.